Firewood Bloody Mary & Stepping Outside

What does it mean to step outside?

What does it mean anymore?

Is it the turn of a key?

The turn of a phrase?

The twist like a rotting root of intention and promise?

What does it mean to unshutter the window?

Beat the welcome mat?

Dust the piano?

Are we waiting like a pile of pieces of pictures of the past,

For a moment when someone salaciously shouts:

‘It’s now!’?

When we step outside,

What happens to the danger?

The anxious innards of leftover and passed over and forgotten flesh?

Does it disappear?

Does it morph?

Does it punch you in the chest on a gravel road in Arkansas?

Does it tickle your back in a bed by the shores of this Unpromising Promised Land?

What does it mean to order a drink?

Order a meal?

Order a moment in time that feels like before,

When we know before is long after?

What does it mean?

And (perhaps this is more the point)-

How?

Dear, dear gods,

How do we open the door?

Firewood Bloody Mary

Makes: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 6 oz tomato juice
• 2 oz vodka
• A few (2-3) dashes Worcestershire sauce
• A tiny dash liquid smoke
• A small dollop real horseradish
• Celery salt
• A reserved splash roasted red pepper liquid if you’ve got ’em (optional)
• A reserved splash green olive juice if you’ve got it (optional)
• A shake or two of your hot sauce of choice (Valentina or Cholula here)
• Unflavored carbonated water
• Ice
• Bacon pieces, celery, green olives, lemon wedges – go nuts, for garnish

Instruments

• Drink shaker
• Garnish sticks of your choice (toothpick, fancy ones, whatevs)
• Drink mixing spoon
• Highball glass
• Small dishes for salting the rim

Instructions

1. Fill your drink shaker with ice.
2. Pour in the tomato juice, vodka, worcestershire, liquid smoke, horseradish, roasted red pepper juice, green olive juice, and hot sauce.
3. Shake vigorously for about 30-45 seconds.
4. Run a lemon wedge around your highball glass and dunk it in celery salt. Fill it carefully with ice. Pour your drink mixture into the glass, leaving a little bit of room at the top.
5. Finish with a splash on carbonated water. Swirl, gently, with a drink mixing spoon.
6. Garnish with your choice of above mentioned garnish options.